CHENNAI: Rising temperatures and frequent power cuts have been giving residents in and around the city disturbed sleep. Over the past few nights, several people in Perungudi, Taramani, Velachery, Thuraipakkam, Palavakkam, Medavakkam, Selaiyur and the surrounding areas have been facing unscheduled power cuts lasting 30-60 minutes.
“Around 10 pm on Tuesday, power supply to the whole area was snapped for about half an hour,” said K Subbaraman, a resident of Vengaivasal, near Santhoshpuram. “I called Minnagam, TANGEDCO’s customer care centre, and they told me to wait. They didn’t even register our complaints. Some people face power outages throughout the night. In the last couple of weeks, we have even had power cuts during the day.”
S Usha (60), a resident of Taramani, said despite having a three-phase power connection, she hasn’t been able to use her AC in the past few days. “We witness power fluctuation at night, and power cuts force people to spend the night in front of their houses and on their terraces like refugees. How will we face summer like this?” she asked.J Sriram, a student residing on Dhanapal Street in West Mambalam, said he can’t use electrical appliances due to frequent voltage fluctuations, and residents aren’t informed before power supply is snapped.
A senior TANGEDCO official told TNIE the demand for power has been rising across the State. While in 2020-21, the State’s average daily consumption was 290-300 Million Units (MUs), on Tuesday, 375.699 MUs were consumed across Tamil Nadu, and the power demand was 17,196 Megawatt (MW). This is the highest recorded in the history of the State-owned power utility (see table).
“Overload-related problems occur in summer, and there is no way to avoid them. There are over 600 section offices in Chennai and its suburbs. Wiremen and linemen are assigned to these offices to attend to complaints at night. We plan to increase the strength of workers till June,” the official added, and explained that power cuts occur in summer when supply on transmission lines trips due to ambient heat.